November update

15 Nov 2009

This month's release will start to show more of the Real-Time Strategy side of Stainless. One new feature that unfortunately will exclude a section of the target audience is speech recognition. I'm using the MS Speech API, which obviously only works on Windows. Sorry Linux and Mac users. :(

Still, it's going to be worth it. Right now the level design and AI are not quite advanced enough to benefit from speech commands, but the potential is there. Also, the game has a new system for money management, which means players will have to start rationing their money and deciding which units to buy. Basically, you'll buy the right to use a certain unit for one round in a game, and no matter how many times that unit dies that round, he'll respawn for free. But then the next round, you have to buy all new units.

Also new: players and units no longer spawn only at their home base. If you die in the middle of the map, you'll respawn a few seconds later in the same spot. Which can be good or bad, depending on the situation. Basically the idea is to keep the game moving at a quick pace during the round, and then slow things down in between rounds to allow players to strategize.

The new respawn mechanic required some interesting new art and sound assets, because respawned units and players basically drop out of the sky in drop pods. Here's some screenshots of the drop pod in action: